


Sober Companion

by CourierNinetyTwo



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 10:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12033684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourierNinetyTwo/pseuds/CourierNinetyTwo
Summary: Sadayo breaks up with Akira because it's the right thing to do. Isn't it?





	Sober Companion

**Author's Note:**

> A request for barddog!

For the second time in her life, making the right choice had ruined everything.

Sadayo knew becoming a maid to pay back her debt was making the best out of a terrible situation at the time, but as Takase's guardians tried to bleed her dry, ending up in the hospital almost seemed like an inevitable conclusion. She would still be there -- or worse -- if Akira hadn't intervened, caught between her debt and declining health.

That was why breaking up with him felt like tossing her heart under the train at Yongen-Jaya Station.

Maybe it was the moral thing to do, but Sadayo had to admit her timing could have been better. Guilt wracked her while she sent Akira letters in jail, knowing the inevitable was approaching when Prosecutor Niijima finally secured his freedom. _Freedom_ was exactly what he needed, the right to make his own life as an adult without the obligation of their relationship holding him down.

It didn't matter that he wasn't coming back to Shujin, or even that he planned to go home. Akira was young enough that Sadayo knew she would never be able to visit, much less show her face to his parents. They would ask what she did for a living, and without a carefully crafted lie, even her remedial class students would be able to put that equation together.

He had been angry with her, of course. Not because of the breakup, really, but the fact that she was placing a hard line between them after blurring the boundaries for so long. After everything Akira went through, after prison, he insisted he was mature enough to make a choice about his own heart, and deep down Sadayo didn't want to disagree.

But she did anyway, hammering the last nail in the coffin with both eyes squeezed shut.

Well, that's what she should have done. Sadayo couldn't help leaving open a gap for air, and told Akira that if he still had feelings for her after graduating college, they could try again. It was a mistake, probably, but considering how all her 'right' decisions had gone, Sadayo wondered if actively fucking up once in a while wouldn't somehow restore the balance.

Even a month into the spring semester, it was impossible to forget the fire in Akira's eyes when he promised to wait for her, no matter how long it took. Sadayo dove as deep into her workload as she could to try and wash that night away, volunteering for committees and extra tutoring hours, until every thought was crushed between the next task or exhaustion, leaving no time for her heart to speak its piece.

At least until she passed out in the middle of class.

As luck would have it, Takamaki and Sakamoto were in her senior homeroom, and rather than taking her to the hospital, they flagged down a car that brought her to Dr. Takemi. Sadayo had walked by Tae's office a dozen times on the way to see Akira, and remembered catching sight of her on the night it seemed like the whole world went to hell. An IV and a long afternoon's rest left her feeling human again, but before Sadayo could squeeze her way out the front door, Tae had shoved a business card in her hand.

"We're getting drinks sometime." The doctor said, her tone leaving no room for an argument. "Let me know when you're free."

Which was why she was here at Crossroads on a Friday night, using the cute umbrella Lala had stuck in her drink to send cubes of ice clinking against each other. The little pink ornament reminded Sadayo of Hawaii, and she bit her tongue before soothing the sting with another sip of sugar-laced liquor.

Tae caught her attention with an unsubtle elbow to the ribs. "I knew Kurusu too, you know. Kid came into my clinic looking to get patched up more often or not."

"So you know what his..." Sadayo hesitated, wondering exactly how to describe her ex-boyfriend's extracurricular activities. "You know why he went to jail."

"Yeah, I figured that out right before the election." After knocking back a shot, Tae let out a deep sigh. "But we're not here to talk about him, really. I want to talk about you."

"If this is a doctor-patient checkup, we probably should have left the vodka back in your antiseptic drawer." Sadayo mumbled, but stayed sitting where she was -- despite an instinctive urge to flee.

Ignoring her jab, Tae picked up the next glass in the row. "I talked to the kids when you were passed out. Ann and Ryuji."

"What did they say?" She swallowed hard, unsure how much Akira had told his friends about their relationship. Considering the nature of how they met, Sadayo wagered the answer was 'plenty'.

"That they're worried about their favorite teacher. Which would be sweet, except I know they probably ran your ass around a hundred ways to Sunday when the Phantom Thieves were having their heyday." The second shot went down, and Tae shuddered. "Something's eating at you, and I'm betting it's Akira, because you're here and he's not."

"We were dating." Sadayo blurted it out before she could think better of it. The brutal weight on her shoulders slipped off with the confession, only to be replaced by a pulse of anxiety awaiting Tae's reaction.

"I figured that out by rooting around in your wallet looking for an insurance card." Tae declared, not looking the least bit guilty. "The strip of photos from Destinyland were pretty cute, but doesn't explain why you're talking in the past tense."

"Because he was my student and I should have known better from the beginning." Rather than sipping through the straw, Sadayo tossed it onto her napkin and gulped her drink right from the cup. "Instead, I fell in love with him, and then broke us up."

"Sounds like a one-way trip to misery." Tae admitted, putting more yen on the bar so Lala would bring another set of shots. "But usually when you love someone, you stay."

"I wanted to do the right thing." Tasting nothing at the bottom of her drink but sugar and ice, Sadayo shoved it away. "But more than anything, I wanted the right thing to feel _good_."

"And it didn't." Tae said, absent affect.

"No. Instead, I promised that if he still wants me in four years, we'll try again." Just saying it out loud made Sadayo try and calculate the days left. "Which feels like mailing a bomb to my future self."

"I think that's your problem." Once her drinks arrived, Tae rolled her thumb over the rim of one heavy shot glass. "If that's all you focus on, four years is going to feel like forty. You're going to resent him by the time that day comes around."

Instinctively, Sadayo wanted to argue, saying there was no way her feelings would ever change, but here she was venting in a bar to a doctor she barely knew and testing her hangover tolerance for tomorrow morning. If every weekend was like this, it wasn't hard to imagine that she'd be bitter enough in a few months to spit acid the next time Akira showed his face.

"Move on." Tae added, then pushed a shot over to Sadayo's side of the counter. "Get a hobby, something beside work. You don't have to date, but when that four years ends, you want to be your best person. Either he'll love you or he won't, but at least you'll have a life regardless."

She was right. Tae was right, and Sadayo loathed it. "How are you so wise about this? I don't see a ring on your finger."

"Because it's way easier to give advice about someone's love life than my own." The doctor waved her second shot in a teasing 'bottoms-up' gesture before downing it.

"Fair's fair." Sadayo knocked back her own gifted shot, then held out the glass like it was a trade. "Who's your heart set on?"

Tae rolled her eyes before muttering, "Niijima."

"Makoto?!"

The outburst made Tae choke, and Sadayo reached for a napkin so she could cover her mouth while coughing. It was taken begrudgingly before dark eyes narrowed her way and the other woman clarified, "Her sister."

Well, at least one of them wasn't skirting the law. No, Tae just wanted up law's skirt.

The joke made Sadayo snicker, placing her head down against the bar counter. She was well and buzzed, but this was the most relaxed she'd felt in weeks. "Good luck there, doc."

"Thanks, lightweight." Folding another bill on top of their glasses, Tae sighed. "Now that I've spent your copay on our drinks, let's get you home."

It wasn't a far walk to the train, but since they were going the same place, Sadayo took a seat right next to Tae. One stop down, and she was leaning against the doctor's shoulder, already half-asleep.

The fact that she could rest at all was a good sign. If nothing else, Sadayo took it as one.

\--


End file.
